System for integrated gaming

ABSTRACT

A system ( 1 ) for gaming, for example in a casino ( 8 ), comprising a terminal ( 2 ) adapted to issue a ticket, and a gaming device ( 3 - 7 ), such as a slot-machine ( 4 - 7 ), remote from the terminal, e.g. in the casino ( 8 ), which is adapted to accept the ticket. The system provides a means ( 9 ) for storing ticket related information, such as in a database, and the arrangement is such that the terminal ( 2 ) mimics the gaming device ( 3 - 7 ) so that an issued ticket is accepted by the gaming device ( 3 - 7 ).

The invention relates to a system for gaining, particularly integrated gaming.

A computer-implemented system is known for providing customers (usually of retail outlet(s)) with a reward which can be redeemed at a gaming machine in a casino, which is usually remote from a location where the award is generated. Such locations are frequently Point-of-Sale terminals (POS). These can be located at a supermarket check-out for example, and the award generated thereat provides a promotional entity for say a casino.

Thus customers of a retail outlet usually complete a transaction at a point of sale (POS) of that outlet. The transactions are usually completed electronically, details of the transaction, including profiles thereof are stored in a central database, but are often not thereafter utilised. It is also a fact that gaming via gaming apparatus is becoming more prevalent, particularly gaming in or at a location such as a casino (though other locations can also be envisaged, such as on concourses at airports, railway stations, bus stations, ferry terminals and games' parlours). The games are played for reward, but often there is no initial incentive for a potential player of such apparatus to play the gaming apparatus. Part at least of the reason for this is that a gaining machine operator has no data, except for existing loyalty card-holders, on which to base such an incentive, or reward, for playing the apparatus. In other words, there is usually no criterion on which the level of incentive can be pitched.

In addition to the foregoing, any reward generated, usually in the form of a ticket which bears data relating to an offer at a particular casino can usually only be used by establishing a real time connection with a casino's accounting system (often referred to a Casino's Slot Accounting System (SAS).

It is an object of the invention to seek to mitigate this disadvantage.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a system for gaming, comprising a terminal adapted to issue a ticket, a gaming device remote from the terminal which is adapted to accept the ticket, and a means for storing ticket related information, the arrangement being such that the terminal mimics the gaming device so that an issued ticket is accepted by the gaming device.

Using the invention, it is possible for the system to treat a terminal as a gaming device, so that the gaming device treats the terminal as a gaming device, and accepts a ticket therefrom. This releases the SAS to verify a ticket at any time.

The terminal may comprise a stand-alone terminal, such as a POS device in a supermarket i.e. the terminal may be located at a location remote from the gaming device and/or means for storing information carried by the ticket.

Suitably the gaming device may comprise an electronic gaming machine (EGM), particularly a slot-machine (or a plurality thereof).

The EGM may be adapted to communicate electronically with the means for storing information carried by the ticket via a protocol and to authenticate the said information.

The means for storing information carried by the ticket may comprise a database means on the back end of a gaming location, preferably the database means comprising a ticketing database or server on the back end of a casino. This provides for control of the system when used in a casino.

The terminal may be adapted to generate a ticket randomly, or may be adapted to generate a ticket based on input from an attendant, or may be adapted to generate a ticket based on a customer loyalty or incentive card.

Suitably, the terminal may be adapted to provide a tabular record of information for each ticket issued.

The terminal may preferably be adapted to generate a validation number for each ticket issued. This seeks to provide for elimination of fraud, particularly when the validation number may be the only parameter on the ticket which is verifiable.

The terminal may also be adapted to issue a ticket comprising promotional data. This provides for point of sale advertising to a purchaser.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method for gaming, comprising the steps of providing a terminal adapted to issue a ticket, providing a gaining device adapted to accept the ticket, providing means for storing ticketing-related information, and the step of accessing the means to record and verify a transaction at the gaming device.

Using the method it is possible to prevent acceptance of tickets from other casinos and also to seek to obviate duplicate tickets being re-used.

A system embodying the invention is hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic layout of a system according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a general schematic of a ticket use process.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a system 1 for gaming, comprising a terminal such as a POS 2 at a retail outlet, a gaming device 3 or devices 4 to 7 such as a slot machine or machines located remotely from the POS 2 in a casino 8 and a means 9 for storing ticketing related information, which in the embodiment is a ticketing database or server on a back end of the casino 8 (which back end may be located in the casino, or remote therefrom), the arrangement being such that the terminal 2 mimics a gaining device 3 so that an issued ticket is accepted by the gaming device.

It will be understood that the term “ticket” used herein covers a coupon, voucher, card or other means which can carry desired information.

The means 9 includes a central monitoring system 10, a player tracking system 11, an accounting system 12 and a ticketing system 13.

The POS 2 which issues the tickets, usually as a printed item, prints tickets that are insertable into a gaming device 3-7, (slot machine in the embodiment) and also are recognised by a customer at a POS in a retail outlet as a promotional credit, i.e. as an award which can be played out (but not cashed) in the casino. The tickets therefore also are compatible with the casino's particular management and statutory reporting requirements.

It will be understood that there is provided an ability to provide a system whereby a user can cash out winnings from one slot machine 3-7 in order to play another. In the invention, the retail terminal 2 (POS in the embodiment) is treated as a slot-machine. Stated in another way, the retail POS 2 mimics the slot-machine 3-7. In order to achieve this,

-   -   (i) Ticket numbers are issued in bulk prior to allocation, as if         EGMs or slot-machines were printing out winnings—however the         winnings are promotional credits as opposed to being directly         cashable.     -   (ii) This is built into a custom machine on-site, run as         software on-site, done using existing promotional mechanisms, or         done as a custom database interactions.     -   (iii) Each ticket number issued in bulk has a particular value         of promotion credit attached to it. Ticket numbers are allocated         to promotional outlets (e.g. retail stores, a ferry terminal,         airport terminal, railway concourse or the like, including         sporting stadia such as an Olympic venue.)). Extracts from the         casino database are provided periodically to indicate which         promotional credits are used.     -   (iv) Each promotion will have associated text, artwork, barcode,         expiry date and location-of-issue identifier.

FIG. 2 shows the ticketing process, in which a customer of a retail outlet receives at the POS an offer ticket 14 for a casino 8, boards in the embodiment a ferry 15 from the location of the retail outlet POS 2 and goes to a passenger quay 16 remote from the retail outlet location and relatively adjacent a casino 8, goes to the casino 8 as by a shuttle bus 17, and uses his or her ticket by inserting it in a slot-machine 3-7 (FIG. 1).

It will be understood that the POS 2 is a stand alone unit that will be located at any desired location (e.g. ferry terminal or luxury stores). Whenever a customer at those locations makes a purchase, an attendant or check out clerk or cashier will issue a ticket using the POS. This ticket could be either generated randomly for any participating casino, or for a specific casino based on the customer loyalty or incentive card, or attendant selection.

At the slot-machine(s) 3-7 at the casino, the ticket can be inserted directly into any slot machine connected to a network thereof. The particular slot-machine will read the ticket via a bill acceptor and the information is extracted. The slot-machine will communicate with the central monitoring system via an SAS protocol and authenticate the ticket from data stored on the ticketing database. An authorisation is either given or denied to the slot machine, and what bonus credits will be given to the play are initiated.

The ticketing database or server on the back end of the casino stores all the ticketing related information. Whenever a ticket is issued or redeemed, the database is accessed to record and verify the transactions. This is to prevent accepting tickets from other casinos and also prevent duplicate tickets being reused.

In the embodiment, the POS 2 has a series of functions:—

-   -   1. Keep a data file used for generating the ticket. This file         will be updated occasionally.     -   2. Keep a promotional data used for choosing awards given         printed on tickets.     -   3. Set up attendant account and assign privilege.     -   4. Provide system login function.     -   5. Keep record of tickets that are printed.     -   6. Issue tickets under the specified format.     -   7. Support batch ticket printing.     -   8. Avoid invalid ticket (e.g. unclear printout).     -   9. Issue tickets according to attendant selection, card reader,         barcode scanning or just randomly selected.     -   10. Generate the validation number used to authenticate tickets.     -   11. Generate auditing report.     -   12. Communicate with Server for daily update while a terminal         has internet access.

The ticketing database or server 9, 13 contains all relevant data which is germane to the identification of a particular POS 2 and for generating ticket data.

There is also a promotional data file which contains promotional data which decides which promotional awards and their parameters are printed on the ticket.

It will be understood too that in the system there is data relating to user account maintenance so that a casino operator can create different roles for different users or user groups. These roles determine any constraints to be imposed, and a user's privileges.

As attendants, check-out clerks, cashiers and the like can change, the ticketing database or server can be adapted to create a profile for each particular attendant, for example a user ID (including a unique login ID), user (staff) name, password and role.

The POS maintains a record in tabular format for each ticket printed, this record comprising inter alia a validation number, which is verifiable so that each use can be authenticated.

When issuing a ticket, the attendant will be given a choice of different ways to generate a ticket to the consumer. The attendant could either select a ticket or award on screen, scan a loyalty or incentive card, or can be chosen randomly by the POS.

1. Selecting Ticket or Award

-   -   The attendant would be given an option of choosing a particular         casino or award.

2. Scan Loyalty Card

-   -   Based on the loyalty card, the POS will issue a ticket for that         corresponding venue.

3. Randomly

-   -   The ticket award would be generated randomly.

4. Batch Print

-   -   User can print a batch of tickets batch by inputting the numbers         of required tickets.

An attendant who is authorised can void an invalid ticket, e.g. one with an unclear print-out, by using a void ticket function.

An authorised user can also read auditing reports generated by the database or server of the system to verify transactions and provide statistical information of a plurality of disparate tickets, which also helps to avoid cheating.

The validation number is generated using the slot-machine validation ID and a current validation sequence number, which is located in the terminal data file. This number is incremented before usage and then saved in the terminal data file.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that a slot-machine can accept a ticket directly using the system, without any human verification, which is effected electronically. Moreover, since the database or server is controlling, the slot-machine does not need any software, firmware or hardware updates. When a slot-machine accepts a ticket, the validation code is sent to the host controller which is in turn sent to the ticketing system. The system verifies the code and then sends an authorisation or rejection poll to the slot-machine, which poll includes a transfer amount, transfer type and validation code.

The ticketing server at the casino is updated with data from tickets printed. This data is provided by the slot-machine to the host server when issuing tickets and is then used to verify ticket redemption. The same information is provided beforehand to the ticketing server so that the tickets can be verified. Parameters other than the validation number are stored on the ticketing server and extracted when the ticket is redeemed. Thus, when the data is set on the ticketing server and the POS, the promotional value of the ticket does not change.

It will be understood that multiple casinos may participate in a system embodying the invention as described herein in relation to the drawings.

Each offer on a ticket, however, is restricted to a particular casino. Each casino has to provide data on which promotional tickets have been redeemed in an EGM, to keep track of the issued tickets. 

1. A system for gaming, comprising a terminal adapted to issue a ticket, a gaming device remote from the terminal which is adapted to accept the ticket, and a means for storing ticket related information, the arrangement being such that the terminal mimics the gaming device so that an issued ticket is accepted by the gaming device.
 2. A system according to claim 1, the terminal comprising a stand-alone terminal.
 3. A system according to claim 2, the terminal being located at a location remote from the gaming device and/or means for storing information carried by the ticket.
 4. A system according to claim 1, the gaming device comprising an electronic gaming machine (EGM).
 5. A system according to claim 4, the EGM comprising a slot-machine.
 6. A system according to claim 4, the EGM being adapted to communicate electronically with the means for storing information carried by the ticket via a protocol and to authenticate the said information.
 7. Apparatus according to claim 1, the means for storing information carried by the ticket comprising a database means on the back end of a gaming location.
 8. Apparatus according to claim 7, the database means comprising a ticketing database or server.
 9. A system according to claim 2, the terminal being adapted to generate a ticket randomly.
 10. A system according to claim 2, the terminal being adapted to generate a ticket based on input from an attendant.
 11. A system according to claim 2, the terminal being adapted to generate a ticket based on a customer loyalty card.
 12. A system according to claim 9, the terminal being adapted to provide a tabular record of information for each ticket issued.
 13. A system according to claim 2, the terminal being adapted to generate a validation number for each ticket issued.
 14. A system according to claim 13, the validation number being the only parameter on the ticket which is verifiable.
 15. A system according to claim 14, the terminal being adapted to issue a ticket comprising promotional data.
 16. (canceled)
 17. A method for gaming, comprising the steps of providing a terminal adapted to issue a ticket, providing a gaming device adapted to accept the ticket, providing a means for storing ticketing-related information, and the step of accessing the means to record and verify a transaction at the gaming device. 